Saturday, November 1, 2014

GENERIC AND THE CAR WRECK ANNIVERSARY

Wow the timing could never be perfect!! This is the FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the change in our lives, and my writing coordinates with the anniversary. After being fired I started going to classes at our church during the day. This way I would get out of the house. Of course I worked on my resume since it had been so long since I had applied for jobs. Everyday coming home, first thing I would do was check the answering machine. Were there any messages for an interview? There weren't many, and if there was they always included taking overnight call. Not able to take call, I would offer to work more Saturdays instead. They turned me down because Saturday is when you make overtime money. The employees in the department didn't want to give up the overtime pay. So, the girls rode the bus home from school.

\ While I was working I was able to pay extra for one of my brand name epilepsy medicines. The insurance company wouldn't let me pay the same copay as the generic brand. So when I lost my job I had to switch to generic medicine. I stopped driving for a couple of weeks to make sure I wasn't going to have a seizure since I had to switch to generic. Lucky me, I didn't on that brand generic.My pharmacologist told me that when I start a certain brand generic, do NOT switch to another. Different companies have different ways of formulating their brand of generic medicines. Generic medicines can have 80% of the medicine in one pill and 110% in another. When I started getting my generic medicine from my pharmacy, I told them not to switch the brand I was taking. The brand they gave me was the best company that makes generic. What did they do? They switched to another. The pharmacist told me it was because of the cost!! I took that generic brand pill ONE DAY! Not thinking about problems
with breakthrough seizures since I switched to another generic, I drove. My two daughters and I were in the car!

One of the families in the church had a family member sick. We were on the way to their house taking food so they would not have to take time to cook. The WORST was about to happen! A seizure, YES I SAID SEIZURE, like I had never had before came on while I WAS DRIVING!!

I have to tell this in my daughter's words now. (The "I" is her now)I noticed my mom to start swerving across the yellow line. I tried to grab the steering wheel, but she fought me! I kept trying to pull the parking brake, but she fought me while I tried doing that too. I was told that, "whenever we were in a car together be ready to grab the wheel or pull the brake." I tried doing that, but it didn't work. We hit mailbox after mailbox. I finally quit to hold on. We went across the yellow line, through a person's front yard, across another road, and into an embankment!! That was where a tree fell on the car and in between me and my mom.I don't remember any of this. I usually have an aura before my seizure, and they only last thirty seconds. I didn't have an aura this time. My seizure definitely lasted longer than thirty seconds. The next thing I remember is waking up leaning over the wheel and seeing someone carrying Kristina out of the car in their arms. Someone else is getting Charity out of the car seat.

Next thing, I hear SIRENS!.....

Last week was the five year anniversary of the car wreck that changed our lives.